Indian Railways is one of the biggest and busiest rail networks in the world, operating 9,000 passenger trains and transporting up to 20 million passengers every day.

India will soon invite foreign businesses to help expand its once-mighty but now outdated railways, government sources said, in a move that would mark the opening up of one of the country's last great state-controlled industries.

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Though Indian train travel is very cheap, and transports some 25 million passengers daily, years of underinvestment mean the service is slow and plagued by frequent accidents, most recently a fire that killed nine people this week, says a Reuters report.

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In the 66 years since independence, India has added 13,000 km (8,077 miles) of new railway lines bringing the total size to about 64,000 km (39,767 miles), says Reuters.

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Homemade alcohol containers hang from a train window as people hang from the doors and windows at Parsha Bazar railway station in Bihar. 

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Passengers sit on the floor while traveling inside an overcrowded general class compartment of the Kalka Mail train in Kanpur.

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Children travel on a train heading from Agra to Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

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A child sits on the floor of a train heading towards Allahabad from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

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Commuters stand by the open doors of a suburban train as it goes over a bridge in the outskirts of Mumbai.

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A bicycle hangs from the window of a train at Parsha Bazar railway station in Bihar.

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A woman carrying bamboo sticks crosses railway tracks on a foggy winter morning in New Delhi.

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Passengers sit in a train as they wait for electricity to be restored at a railway station in New Delhi.

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A warning sign is seen written on a shutter as a woman exits a toilet inside the sleeper class compartment of the Kalka Mail passenger train on the way to Kolkata. 

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Passengers travel inside an overcrowded general class compartment of the Kalka Mail train in Kanpur.

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A laundryman dries clothes in middle of railway tracks at a suburban station in Mumbai.

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Commuters travel in a train heading from Agra to Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

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A man looks out of a compartment of the Kalka Mail passenger train at a railway station in Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh.

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Commuters stand at the open doorways of a suburban train as they head toward their destination in Mumbai.

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A train passes through slums in Mumbai.